Friday, July 29, 2011

Melting Pot Ramadan Buffet, Concorde Hotel

Mention Melting pot, and I am transported back in time, to that nostalgic era when we'd go to Melting Pot for their supper buffet after a night out...these days, I am yawning by 10pm, so supper buffets are out of the question. When Julini Yusoff, F&B Manager invited me for their Nasi Padang pre Ramadan tasting, it was a rather opportune time to revisit I felt.

Traffic was DIABOLIC, I could see Concorde in front of me for half an hour.... joining me for the evening's soiree were Saucer, (The other half of I AM THE WITCH), J2KFM (Ipoh Motoromouth) and Memoirs of a Chocoholic. The Melting Pot was a melting pot of all the press people, including us bloggers.

Mother and son duo, Nurdeli Mansorman (Mak Deli) and Irwan Arifin are the two chefs responsible for dishing out the Padang specialities for this year's Ramadan spread.

Now, Nasi Padang is not rice eaten at the soccer field, or grown in one. It is the cuisine of the Mingkabaus, from West Sumatra, and is distinctive for its succulent coconut milk prevalent in most dishes, and spicy chilli.

Alright, sashimi is definitely not part of the Nasi Padang repertoire, but at the Melting Pot, they have to retain some constant favourites, constantly....

Ooops, neither is the Teppenyaki Theatre part of the Padang show....

More teppenyaki...okay, this is like the supporting dancers at a Star's Concert before the main show... and nowww...tah dahhhh

My all time favourite, dendeng paru. I love lung just like I love tongue. Chinese think that eating a particular organ of an animal will strengthen your own corresponding organ, so eating lung should theoretically strengthen mine, if the cholesterol doesn't kill me first.

Daging Dendeng Balado.

Terung Balado. Hmm, must find out what Balado means. It appears alot.

Ikan Goreng Lado Hijau...crispy fried fish with green sambal...

Rendang Ayam... cant really go wrong with this. These kinda foods are the anti carb squad's worse nightmare, because they go SOOO well with rice, and LOTS of it.

Gulai Cincang Kambing. Tender pieces of mutton.

Lamb stuffed with rice. The rice was gorgeous, fluffy basmati, almost like a briyani. Oh, it was briyani.

Hainanese Chicken Rice...

Dried Figs. Do you know how EXPENSIVE fresh figs are in this country? They're about RM6 per fig! WHAT THE FIG! Being the chink that I am, I love to zoom in on expensive items. So I was completely figged out.

Not even Ramadan yet, and I've already had a date!

People almost always comment, "wah, you eat ulam ah?" whenever I pile my plate with ulams, esp ulam raja, etc with dollops of Sambal Belacan. I love ulams...my favourite being ulam raja, which I am trying unsuccessfully to plant.

Kalio Hati. As we all know, hati is commonly translated as "HEART". Sakit hati, etc... but hati is actually liver.

We're back to the non Padang stuff...part of the regular buffet. The ubiquitous boiled prawns and raw oyster bar.

Ah, now this is something you dont see everyday. SOUP GEARBOX. I am mechanically un-inclined, and I couldnt tell a Gearbox from a Matchbox, so I am assuming the size of the gearbox is about the size of this boner.

That's one big bowl of soup. The soup itself is a clear broth, very wholesome and clean. You can use a straw to suck out the marrow.

A trio of bubur pulut hitam, pengat pisang and one other...pengat pisang as we know it is actually called Pangek Pisang.

An assortment of nyonya kuehs.

Operrraaa...

That's me sucking the marrow...

And that's the blogging crew. Not in pic is Memoirs of Chocoholic.

Melting Pot is offering a 20% discount during the 1st and 4th week of Ramadan. Priced at RM89++. If you ask me, its pretty good value for your ringgit. To reserve call 03-21442200.

Oh, I din know you like dried figs. Otherwise would have brought some back for you. We have lovely fresh dried king figs from Turkey. Kinda oxymoronic I know, fresh dried figs ^_^ but they are really soft and sticky-moist, not all dried up like a raisin.

About Me

Oft misunderstood soul. Shy, reserved, likes to stay in the background, but inevitably mistaken as not shy, extrovert etc. Originally meant to be a culinary blog, but in due course discovered man does not live on cake alone..hence the waffle.